How Rude!

I read recently in Good Housekeeping that it is in poor taste to brag copiously about one's children. Ms. Manners, however, did not say anything concerning bragging about one's grandchildren; therefore, I am about to partake in a bit of shameless bragging. Not because I feel the need to show off my grandson, but because I miss my grandson horribly and think that perhaps talking about him will make me feel better. This is the time of year where I would normally be in Colorado soaking up every precious moment with him, but I cannot be there at the moment so if this blog entry in in "poor taste" excuse my rudeness! LOL

Baby Finn is no longer a baby; he turned 18 months this month and is about as precocious as they come. Sometimes I have to wonder (and yes, I know everyone says this about their children/grandchildren) if the boy is just extremely intelligent or a product of two parents who really believe that spending time with their child is the most important thing on earth. It has been a long time since I've had small children, and frankly I do not have much exposure to small children (other than Finn) so I have no idea whether Finn is just really smart or whether he is just average and other 18 month old kids do the things he does (in other words, please feel free to put me in my place and tell me to get over it--that my grandchild is NOT that smart--LOL).

So anyway, at 18 months, Finn is talking up a storm. He is a "namer"--he has to name everything and everyone in his environment. So he always wants to know what everything is thus he learns multiple words daily. His newest words are "airplane," "outside," "awesome," "ostrich," and "scooter" (which, much to his mother's chagrin comes out as "cooter"). He can name all his body parts and every food he eats. He knows how to say "please" (no "thank you" yet though). He knows all his colors--I love hearing him say 'yellow," it comes out as "yeddow" because he struggles with the letter "L." That however did not stop him not that long ago when, from the back seat of the car (strapped into a car seat of course) he attempted to get mommy's attention with his incessant "mommy, mommy, mommy." When that didn't work he promptly tried another tactic--Lindsay said he got quiet and then he screamed "INSAY!" LOL, I guess there is more than one way to get mom's attention.

Currently he is learning his ABCs. He loves the ABC song, especially when GeeGee (that would be me) makes a fool of herself and sings it over speaker phone while the entire house, including any visitors, listen in. If you say "A" he will respond with "B" and so on. He is also learning to tie his shoes and will spend long periods of time completely unlacing shoes and lacing them back up. He has learned how to make the loops, but hasn't figured out how to turn the loops into a bow yet. He knows everyone in his family, including all those who live far away. He has a family wall in his room with pictures of his family at eye level so he runs in there and points to everyone and names them--pawpaw, geegee, auntie, uncle and the list goes on. He told the ladies at daycare that "Pawpaw tractor" (pawpaw has a riding lawnmower which Finn LOVES) and Pawpaw airplane (he just learned that pawpaw flies in airplanes). There is a bit of confusion when it comes to the fact that Pawpaw is African American--Finn notices that difference and, subsequently, EVERY African American man he sees is greeted with "PAWPAW."

He loves books!!! Thankfully, because books are the one thing that his mommy and daddy allow Geegee to buy as much as she wants of . Since Lindsay and Jason are avid readers, Finn has also developed a healthy respect for books. He is constantly asking to be read to --"book, book, book"--and knows many of his books by heart. Some he knows so well that if Lindsay asks him to go get a particular book, either by title or by storyline, he will run off and return with the correct book. He seems to have memorized some of the lines in the books and can repeat them right along with the reader. I am having a grand time ordering him a bunch of books for Christmas.

He loves clothes and has become somewhat of a clothes horse. He takes great delight in opening the boxes of clothes that I send him--excited with each new piece. He likes to pick out his own outfits and will ask for particular items of clothing--such as his "airpane coat" and hat. This is good for me because I like buying him clothes although Lindsay has declared a moratorium on clothes buying because his closet is too full!

I've been horribly rude with all this bragging about my precious grandson but it has lifted my spirits to "talk" about him and has made me miss him just a tiny bit less.